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ICMC welcomes launch of the Sutherland report on Migration

The Sutherland report is a landmark roadmap to improve the global governance of migration. Photo: N. PerroudNew York City, 24 February 2017 - ICMC’s Head of Policy, John K. Bingham, welcomed with appreciation the launch of the Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Migration, Peter Sutherland, who also serves as President of ICMC. During a meeting at the United Nations in New York, Bingham commented that Sutherland’s report gives much hope to organizations working in the field of refugee protection and migrants’ rights, especially in regards to the two Global Compacts on safe, orderly, and regular migration and responsibility-sharing for refugees.

Its many strengths, Bingham highlighted, lay in the combination of moral arguments with rule of law emphasis on the protection of refugees as well as “Sutherland’s very strong, practical real-world voice” for improving all kinds of migration governance. The report, inclusive of 16 detailed recommendations for States to advance the global migration agenda, touches on the expansion of legal pathways for people fleeing countries in crisis, migrants' financial inclusion and reduction of recruitment costs, access to data for facts-based migration policies, and multi-actor engagement of civil society including faith-based organizations as well as migrants, refugees and the diaspora themselves to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.